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My mom asked for a new eyeglass case for her purse and I decided I could make one for her instead of buying it. With my engineer husband's help, I worked out a pattern I liked and have actually made four of these so far, with two more cut out to finish. The one on the left will have a matching tote bag (cut out but needs to be sewn) and the one on the right is made out of flannel for my dad. I couldn't resist the golf flannel when it was on sale after Thanksgiving. Each case is made of 2 layers of fabric, a layer of interfacing, and a layer of batting.

I'm making some progress on my list of handmade gifts, but I have added some ideas to it, too...we'll see what gets done! :)

Over the last few months, I've featured some different handmade gifts I've been making. Here is the list of posts and tutorials all in one place. There are a couple that might be simple and quick enough to make for this Christmas!

I made myself one of these market bags back in September with great intentions to make several (!) for Christmas presents. I am now hoping to get 2 done. Here is the first. This is for my choir co-director. I love the music fabric and got it on super clearance at Joann Fabric awhile back.I thought I was doing so well with my handmade gifts, but now I feel so behind! I am trying to pick and choose, but still want to get a lot done. Plus, we haven't sent out any Christmas cards! I'm sure what needs to get done will...it always does.

Another week has quickly zipped by! I guess that is pretty typical for this time of year. I haven't been making too much right now except some eyeglass cases which I am making for gifts. I gave two already and have four more cut out to sew up. I'll post some pictures when they're done.

I've also been working on my mom's Etsy shop. We have a new banner and avatar, so let me know what you think. We will be the featured Etsy sellers on The Nutshell tomorrow, so stop over and see us. Jess is featuring a new Etsy seller each day, with gift ideas for Christmas, so if you have more shopping to do, visit her blog. She has a new shop on Etsy, too - Nutshell Farms.

Thank you to everyone who entered my tea wallet giveaway! I am just thrilled at all of your comments and am looking forward to checking out all of your blogs!

Using Random.org, comment #105 was selected, which was from Theresa.

Theresa said...Love the "tea cozy"!! I've been making the keychain wristlets and tissue pack covers to give as gift sets this year. There are quite a few different tutorials out there!Congratulations to Theresa! If you still would like a chance to win a tea wallet, Nana Thena's giveaway goes until 3:00 p.m. EST today. We also still have some tea wallets available in our Etsy shop for $5.50 each and free shipping through this weekend. My mom has also made custom tea wallets in the past, so if you are interested, let me know and I'll see if she is able to make you one!Thank you and good luck in all of the other giveaways you entered!

I'll be announcing the winner of the Sew, Mama, Sew tea wallet giveaway tomorrow. You have until 7:00 p.m. EST today to comment for a chance to win. I'll announce the winner tomorrow, Monday, Dec. 7.

If you'd like another chance at winning a tea wallet, check out Nana Thena's giveaway! Stop by her blog before 3:00 p.m. EST tomorrow, Monday, Dec. 7, to win your choice of a tea wallet from CJ's Craft Corner!

I actually made this diaper clutch for a cousin who is having a baby in January, but it would be a great Christmas or shower gift! I used a travel wipes container as my model to create a pattern, then made this clutch out of two pieces of fabric and a layer of interfacing. I topstitched the whole thing, added Velcro, then folded up the bottom and stitched it together.

It was a fun, quick project. Depending on the size of the wipes container (A Pampers travel wipes container is quite a bit thicker than Huggies.), you can fit 1-2 diapers in with the wipes container. I think this would also be a fun clutch to use for makeup or other small items. I want one of these for myself! I hope to make a few more for additional presents and for our Etsy shop.

I'm excited to participate for the second time in the Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day! This time, we're giving away this tea wallet from CJ's Craft Corner (my mom's Etsy shop - free shipping through Dec. 11!), and two fat quarters of fabric. I don't have pictures of the fat quarters, but both of them will be in the blue color family. To win, leave a comment on this post by Sunday, December 6 at 7:00 p.m. EST. I'd love to hear what you are making for holiday gifts, and feel free to leave links to tutorials if you have them. I'll randomly choose one comment to win both the tea wallet and the fat quarters. Be sure I have a way to contact you if you win! I'll contact the winner and announce the winner here on my blog sometime on Monday, December 7. Thanks for visiting and check out all of the other amazing giveaways!!

So, I really need to go on a fabric buying hiatus...but I bought myself some today with some birthday money, and then my mom and dad bought me a few lovely fabric choices as presents. So, my hiatus needs to start now!! :)

Check out CJ's Craft Corner for Christmas gift ideas. Now through December 11, receive free standard shipping on any purchase. We will continue to add new items! Look for a tea wallet giveaway later this week!

We have a tiny laundry room off our kitchen with lots of wire shelving. It has looked really ugly to me lately...and disorganized. I still want to do more, but I was thrilled to find some cute bins at our $1 store that we have been using for recycling. When I look at it, it just looks so much cuter to me now. It's amazing what a little change can do! I ended up getting a few extra bins that I have been using in my craft area, too.

I didn't intend to take this week off from blogging - but that's just what I did. Between helping my mom get ready for a craft show, working, taking care of my house and family, and all of the other things that fill our days, I didn't blog once!

I have been working on some things to share and have gotten some good deals lately. I'll share more in the near future (hopefully!), but I can tell you that I decided to participate in the Joy's Hope Scarf Along! I have to get caught up on my sewing this weekend so I'm ready to finish the scarves next week, but it has been really fun working on fabric combinations to make these. Take a look if you want a great, simple, cute gift idea!

Monica and Carrie recently hosted a Noel Swap. I had a great time putting together April's box and I was so excited when I received the box of goodies she put together for me. Everything was in shades in blue and silver in a snowman theme! I know I will forget some of the great things she sent, but here are some of them: Mary Engelbreit snowman notebookBlue and white notepadGel pensTwo different snowman tinsSnowflake mini-loaf panSet of 3 cookie cuttersStuffed snowmanGhirardelli peppermint barkSo great! Thanks for the fun package!

'Tis the Season! Check out CJ's Craft Corner for Christmas gift ideas! We will be adding new items over the next couple of weeks, and shipping promotions at the shop will be available through the end of November. We also welcome custom listings for tea wallets, tablerunners, and more!

This week was our little one's 2nd birthday. I had lots of big ideas for her party, but after we got colds last week, I kind of just said "forget it" to the big themed plans and just hoped we would all be well and able to celebrate together. This is what we did instead! Elmo balloons from Kroger!

Crayon garland!

A birthday banner I got in Sept. from the Dollar Store.

The birthday cake...this was the third thing I tried to make. I had to throw out brownies I tried to bake in ice cream cones and a cookie pizza I tried to make. Third time's a charm!

A little outfit I made for her

Her favorite presents were her baby doll and her new play kitchen. We had a great birthday!

So this wasn't for a Christmas present, but one of our neighbors had a baby last week, so I made this little star onesie. I used one of the applique patterns here at Wee Folk Art and used Wonder Under to fuse the fabric to the onesie. Then I stitched around the stars using my sewing machine. I am thinking about making a few more of these for an upcoming baby shower and Christmas presents. Are you making Christmas presents? What are you making?

I'm participating in the Blissfully Domestic Fall Tour of Homes, and wanted to share pictures of some of my autumn decorations. None of my decorations are too fancy, but I enjoy decorating for fall! Here's a mum I got for 75% off at Lowe's. Only $6.25! It has held up well for almost 3 weeks and still looks lovely!

My "mantle" which is the top of our piano. I tried to make the silk arrangement similar to this Martha Stewart one I saw in a magazine.

I used an unused frame, some stickers, and scrapbooking paper to make this little decorative item.

My mom made these placemats for me out of Alexander Henry's "Happy Jacks" fabric. I love them!! My mom has grown her own Indian corn for the past two years. Once it's ready, we get together and make bunches to decorate both of our houses.

I saw this idea from Film in the Fridge for patchwork towels and this one at Sew4Home - and here is a tutorial at Sew, Mama, Sew!. I love how these towels look and they are a great way to use up fabric scraps! I purchased flour sack towels at Target to use for this project. (Quick question: Do flour sack towels typically wrinkle a lot or does it depend on the kind? I don't use them often, so I was wondering!)

For this towel, I used 3 pieces of fabric and sewed them together, but it would be easy to use only one strip of fabric or many more pieces to customize the finished product. Overall, I enjoyed this project and am pleased with how it turned out. I will be making some more for gifts! This one is going to my mother-in-law for her birthday. Are you getting started on your Christmas presents? What are you making or buying?

When I saw this tutorial for a simple fleece scarf at Make It and Love It, I had to try it out right away! I had a piece of fleece to make my mother-in-law a scarf and this project was perfect. It took about 45 minutes for me to complete one scarf, making this an excellent easy Christmas gift idea. Fleece is on sale often at the stores, making this a frugal craft as well. I picked up fleece to make 3 more scarves for under $4 total. Love this idea!

In my work at the library, I plan storytime programs for ages 1 1/2 - 3 1/2. Every year, I try to put together a pumpkin storytime that is fun but has minimal references to Halloween. The books that mention Halloween primarily focus on seasonal elements (friendly bats, leaves, etc.) or the dressing up aspect of Halloween. Here are a few of my favorite books and a couple of newer books I've discovered. I have a few more new pumpkin books on request, so if they turn out to be good ones, I'll add them to the list.

For this rhyme, I put together a little set of cupcakes with candy corn on top made out of graphics from Microsoft Word to use as a flannelboard activity. Then, I modified the following rhyme to fit the story:

Down around the corner at the bakery shop, there were 5 little cupcakes with candy corn on top.Along came Julius with a penny in his hand. He bought one cupcake and away he ran!

Since mid-summer, I have been involved as a Media Review Panel Member at a new website called WatchKnow. With Larry Sanger (co-founder of Wikipedia) as executive director, WatchKnow is an online directory of educational videos for grades K-12. The videos are organized on the site by topic and are searchable by keyword and age level. Videos on the site are also rated, making it easier to find good quality videos.

Right now, the site has over 11,000 videos available, but more are constantly being added. The reason? This site is a wiki project, meaning the people who visit the site can also contribute to it. Perhaps you find a great video on a certain topic. Add it to WatchKnow! You can also contribute by rating the videos that you view and use.

This is a great resource for parents, teachers, students, homeschoolers and more. Videos can show a different way to teach a certain topic or give you a refresher on a specific subject.

I heard about a new web site called Alice.com on Money Saving Mom last week and decided to take a look at the site. Alice.com is an online source of toiletries, cleaning products, household items, and some non-perishable grocery items. Your order is delivered to your home with free shippng.

I registered for a free account and placed a small first order. I got 4 Suave shampoos at $0.60 each, Kotex liners at $0.66, a bottle of Joy dish soap for $0.85, 2 Dove deodorants for $0.97 each, and 2 rolls of Bounty Basic for $0.59 each. The total cost for the order was $7.76 for all 10 items.

I placed this order late on Saturday evening and received it on Tuesday afternoon. I was amazed at how fast the shipping was! I will definitely keep an eye on the best deals at this site. There is a feature that shows the 50 best deals on the site. It is a nice supplement for grocery store deals and is very convenient. We are also going to consider using the site for my grandfather this winter when …

We have been thinking about our little girl's 2nd birthday party lately, and I think we have finally settled on a "theme". We aren't going to have a big party as some of our family cannot travel to be with us, but we will have two small parties, one with each side of the family. I have been searching online for ideas to fit my "colorful crayon" theme and have found a lot! Even though we won't be using all of these ideas, I thought I'd share some things I found in my searching!

Brownies in a Cone Recipe - This looks fun and simple. Since we will have two little parties and also celebrate on her actual birthday, I thought we could do these as a change from cake for one of the events!

Box of Crayons Cake - This looks a little too hard for me, but my mom thinks we can do it. We'll see if we try or not!

We have been busy adding items to CJ's Craft Corner! We've added placemats, a market tote, a cloth children's book, and a tablerunner. In addition to the promotion running through the end of October (buy one tea wallet or crayon holder with $1 shipping, get free shipping on a second tea wallet or crayon holder), we are offering free shipping on all fall and Halloween items left in the shop. Many are reversible, giving them additional seasons of use for the same price! Stop in and see us today!

With Christmas getting closer, I wanted to write a quick post about two ways of saving/making money that I have used in the past.

The first way of earning some extra money in the form of gift certificates is through Swagbucks. Our computer had some problems back in the late summer and we got out of the habit of using Swagbucks. Today, I set it up as our home page and main search engine again. Basically, use Swagbucks for online searching and you get chances to win Swagbucks that can be redeemed for gift certificates and merchandise. One of the best deals is a $5 Amazon gift card for 45 Swagbucks. I had enough points to redeem for a $5 Amazon gift card today and I won 5 Swagbucks with my first search!

A second way of saving money while shopping online is through Ebates. Ebates rebates a percentage of your purchase when shopping online through the Ebates site. They also offer a sign up bonus of $5 when you sign up through a referral link and earn at least $5.01 cash back within 90…

My mom was going through her fabric stash a couple of weeks ago, and was going to get rid of this Christmas mitten fabric. I thought it would make really cute napkins, so I cut the fabric into fat quarters to make the napkins from Weekend Sewing. I used gold thread to topstitch them and am pleased with how they turned out!

My mom had some cute pumpkin fabric left over from making a tablerunner and I thought it looked just about the right size to make my little one a pumpkin skirt. It is a bit more fitted than the ones I have made for her in the past, but it looks darling with a pair of black tights. I had a bit of fabric left over, so I used the pumpkin applique pattern found at Wee Folk Art to make a pumpkin to put on a black turtleneck. I used Wonder Under to fuse the fabric to the turtleneck (but not before getting a big piece of Wonder Under stuck on my ironing board cover - whoops!) and then stitched around the shapes using the stretch stitch on my machine. I had so much fun making this for her and she seemed to like wearing it! (Although I had a really tough time getting her to stay still for me to take a picture!)

We are a week and half into this construction project and are definitely seeing some progress! The backyard is all muddy, but the whole addition is framed and tub is in! My daughter told my mother in law that we need to get some toys for the bathtub because she is going to take a bath in it. :)

I looked at the shower curtain, rug, and curtains I had purchased and decided it was all wrong with the flooring we bought, so I took it all (except the flooring) back. I was really disappointed because I had gotten some great deals on these things! We ended up getting a plain sage green shower curtain for a really good price, so I feel a little better, but I am starting over a bit on my decorating plan. I've been thinking of a sage, pale blue, and chocolate brown color scheme, but I'm not sure. We already have a sage green bathroom, so I want this one to look different. What color scheme do you think we should try?

I went to Joann fabric and got some pretty new fabric for Christmas presents! I love designer fabric (Amy Butler, Alexander Henry, etc.), but when I get 6 yards of fabric for under $9, I still really like some of the fabric I can get at Joann's! I have several Christmas projects in mind for this fabric - shoe bags, tote bags, and more! I especially like the blue and brown damask fabric. Where do you get your fabric?

I saw these darling fabric pumpkins recently, and decided I wanted to try and make them. They went together so quickly! I filled mine with fiberfill instead of the plastic bag, but did use the dental floss. They found a home in a bowl that is also displaying some harvest-toned wool dryer balls. Give this craft a try if you have some fall fabric scraps around.

Believe it or not, Christmas is getting closer! We are hoping to stock CJ's Craft Corner with a variety of new items over the next several weeks, so check back often. Today we added some darling teapot placemats to the site and are starting a new shipping special on tea wallets for the month of October. During the month of October, enjoy $1 shipping on all tea wallets and mini crayon holders, and free shipping on the second tea wallet or crayon holder. That would be 2 tea wallets for $12! Get a head start on your Christmas shopping!

Don't forget! Today is Read for the Record! Check out the web site for ideas to use with The Very Hungry Caterpillar and to be counted as a part of this great effort. We read the book this morning already and will hopefully do a few activities to accompany it this afternoon.

A week or so ago, I saw a tutu tutorial from Tea Rose Home. I thought the tutu looked darling, but didn't really look at the directions for the tutorial. A few days later, I took a look at the directions and really they were super easy and that I understood them!! When I saw that tulle was on sale at Joann Fabric this week, I knew I had to give it a try.

I bought the supplies on Sunday and had the tutu finished by Monday evening. It was so fun and simple to make. I purchased a yard of 5 different colors of tulle (total cost under $6) and did a pattern of one strip of each color all the way around the elastic. For my daughter, I used about 50 strips that were approximately 6" wide. The finished length of the tutu is around 16" long. I don't know exactly what my daughter's costume is going to be...but the tutu is so cute, I know she'll have fun! I'm thinking of a butterfly or a fairy, but I'd love your ideas.

I finally made a project from Weekend Sewing! I made four drawstring travel bags using the directions from the book. The first one I made was using the medium-sized dimensions from the book. I made two others to be shoe bags (presents for Christmas) and the last one is probably going to be a Christmas gift bag. These are simple and fun to make. I definitely will be making more!!

Last weekend, I picked up some knit fabric at JoAnn Fabric. It cost just over $2 a yard, so I spent under $6 for 2 1/2 yards. I thought I had some directions at home on how to make a tunic, but when I got home, I couldn't find the directions.

I decided to hop online, and see what kinds of tutorials I could find. I found this two hour dress/tunic tutorial from Lula Louise, and it was just what I was looking for. I didn't use her measurements/pattern, but I used a tunic I already had and traced it to make my pattern. I did make the pattern longer than my existing tunic as well. Around 3 hours later (everything takes me longer than it says!), here is the finished tunic! This is probably my favorite piece of clothing I've made for myself. I like how versatile it is. I wore it yesterday with a denim jacket and black pants, but I think it would work over a turtleneck or long sleeved t-shirt or with a skirt or jeans. I also think this fabric is really fun. It is too short for me to…

I have visited The Farm Chicks' blog more than once, and was excited when my copy of their cookbook, The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen came in at the library. I haven't had a chance to make anything from the book, but there are a few recipes that I definitely want to try, including some yummy looking cinnamon rolls. I loved their homemade chocolate cupcake recipe, so I'm sure these recipes will be great as well. The book is really lovely, and lots of fun to browse, too.

I've been a bit absent from blogging lately, mostly because our little construction project started this week! This picture is just an example of what the back of my house looks like right now! (Oh and our house is not sided pink, that is what is under our current siding. The house was pink before we owned it.) I am ready for the part where I say how nice the paint looks with the curtains, but I know that will come in due time.

For now, my little one is enjoying watching the "mens" working outside. She stands at the back window in her room and stares at them. She gets so excited when one of them waves at her. I have been doing some crafting and cooking and reading, so more posts will be coming! :)

This cooler weather has made me want to start cooking and baking more. This weekend, we decided to let our daughter help make cookies. I set out to find an eggless cookie recipe, so we wouldn't have to worry about raw eggs in the cookie dough getting on her hands while she mixed.

I found this simple chocolate chip cookie recipe that turned out to be really yummy! My daughter had a blast helping to mix and put the cookies on the cookie sheet. The bonus for mom and dad was being able to sneak a couple of bites of cookie dough. The dough tastes a little more like a sugar cookie dough than traditional chocolate chip cookie dough, but still good. Do you have any favorite eggless baked good recipes? I'd love to take a look at some new ones!

I've had this market bag tutorial from Film in the Fridge bookmarked for some time. I liked the look of the finished bag and the tutorial looked fairly simple, so I decided to give it a try. I had some of this Robert Kaufman pears fabric from the Fruit Basket line which I thought would look great as a bag. I decided to make a music bag to use for church. I cut the pieces a week ago, and sewed the bag in about 3 hours over 2 evenings. I think subsequent bags will be easier, because there will be less to figure out after making this first one. I tweaked a few things including the straps and how I put the lining and outer bag together, but I really like this bag. I think I will make up a few for Christmas presents using some fabric that I have coming from Joann Fabric and Hancock Fabric. I was anxious to get this one finished, so I didn't include a pocket (or two), but probably would add pockets on future bags. This bag is all packed up and ready for church tomorrow! Do you have …

Last weekend, I picked up some knit fabric at Joann Fabric, hoping to make a simple scarf. I love wearing scarves, and they are a perfect layer for this time of year. First, I tried this T-Shirt Scarf from Cut Out and Keep. It took quite a while to cut out all of the squares and the fabric kept twisting around. I like the finished scarf, but I think it would have turned out better with material that had color on both sides and with slightly larger squares. The scarf I made is super long and I didn't even use 50 squares. This probably took me about an hour and a half to make. The second scarf was just made by cutting the knit fabric. No hemming or finishing, that's it. It took about 5 minutes. I like them both, but I'm just curious: which one do you like better?

Last week, we didn't do too much for Tot School. I had a few apple books, but didn't do any of the activities I had planned. I will probably re-visit apples again this fall.

This week, I gathered some farm books that we had at home including Big Red Barn, Barnyard Banter, and Mr. Brown Can Moo. We enjoyed reading these books a lot. My daughter also loved her Baby Einstein Baby MacDonald DVD this week. She is getting better at putting together her Melissa and Doug farm puzzle, too.

I was also surprised that she really enjoyed these Farmer in the Dell stacking cards I got for her a few months ago. She likes to look at the cards and tell the story herself and requested that we sing the song often this week. We also listened to the CD On the Farm With Ronno quite a bit this week.

Yesterday, we went to a pioneer days festival and she got a chance to see some cows and several roosters. Plus, she loved the ladies who did clog dancing.

This is not one of my typical posts, but since this is on my mind right now, I thought I'd write about it! Fall always has been a season of transition for me. When I was a teacher, this was the time of year that I would be returning to school and getting used to a new schedule and set of students. While I'm no longer teaching, I still feel this transition every fall.

On the home front, we've been spending a lot of time thinking about whether to buy a new house or add on to our 1000 sq. ft. home. After much deliberation, (I'm talking months...I don't make decisions lightly!) we have decided to stay where we are and have hired a contractor to add on a second full bathroom, making our room a master "suite" ... as much as a 12x12 room can be a suite! We are looking forward to the second bathroom and walk-in closet, and are trying to make decisions about all of the items needed for the bathroom. I want to find quality items that are priced reasonably, so we are…

I bought some adorable owl fabric a couple of weeks ago at JoAnn Fabric. I am loving owls right now - I think we are going to have an owl birthday party for a 2-year -old in a couple of months. After making a little skirt for my daughter, I had quite a bit of fabric left over and decided to try making a purse for me. I used this tutorial at Little Birdie Secrets for the basic idea, but I figured out a way to line the bag and made fabric straps instead of using bamboo handles. The bag isn't perfect, but I had a lot of fun putting it together and have already gotten some nice compliments on it. Plus, the fabric makes me smile when I look at it!

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law moved into their first home a couple of weeks ago. When I bought this black floater frame from Kohl's on clearance ($3.99!), I thought it would work well for my sister-in-law's decorating style. I was going to print their last initial on scrapbook paper and frame it, but my husband suggested doing a monogram instead, using their first initials and last initial. I went online to dafont.com and found a neat (free!) font in their intitials category. I played around with the size of the letters and ended up making the side initials 200 pt type and the center initial 300 pt type. I used daisy scrapbook paper (Daisies are my sister-in-law's favorite flowers.) and printed the letters using my home printer. I used my little paper cutter to trim the paper, cleaned the glass on the frame, and mounted the paper between the two pieces of glass. Here is the finished product! I realized their initials are the same as ours...and I like it so much I wan…

I am married with one daughter. I work part-time as a youth services librarian but am primarily a stay at home mom. I enjoy writing about all aspects of my life - books, sewing, fashion, baking, family activities, frugality, running, my faith, and more!